It is true that the question deserves to be asked, what language do the Vikings speak?
Today the viking culture culture is coming back to the forefront, there are series, movies, accessories, fan sites (Odin's Hall oops) that talk about and feature these great Scandinavian hunks that we call Vikings.
However, in this set of contents for obvious reasons, all this little world often speaks english. What is it really?
Norse, the Viking language par excellence
Norse is an ancient Scandinavian language which was notably spoken in... Scandinavia YES haha! No-sorry, to be more precise:
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- Denmark
- Norway
- Sweden
- Iceland
- Russia
- Finland
- and other countries of residence of the big muscular beards
We speak then of "Old Norseor "Old Norwegian"old Norwegian"to describe this language spoken in these regions for several centuries, from about 750 to 1350, which includes a good part of the Middle Ages.
If you wonder what Old Norse sounds like, it is said to sound like germanthere are some germanic sounds.
To make you an idea, I can recommend you to listen to the group SKÁLD which is one of the only bands, if not the only one that sings in "Old Norse".
Here are some songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9NIBZfVBW4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGy_X_Yzurw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhUAaGds2_w
A Runic Alphabet with a lot of symbolism
The Old Norse alphabet is a very strong Viking symbol. It has two forms.
The first is called "futhark it designates the runic writing.
Not only do runes represent letters that can be used to write words and thus communicate in everyday life, but each rune has a symbolic force.
The Norse words or expressions were then rich in meaning, they were not pronounced or written at random. During all the period when the futhark was used, we can see that runes were present everywhere.
The Vikings engraved the runes in different places
- Weapons like shields
- House and shop fronts
- Viking ships, such as the famous Drakkars
- In the sand of the beaches to protect them
- On the body in tattoos
- On jewellery
You will find in our e-shop jewelry and accessories with these runic engravings, you can visit our collection viking runes to choose your jewel.
The second form of Old Norse is used from the year 1000 and this one takes the Latin alphabet that we know well.
That's why, when we think about the Vikings' dialects, we all remember the futhark, this one is much more full of Scandinavian culture, history and symbolism
Vikings don't speak English
To conclude this article, we can say that the Vikings until the year 1000 spoke Old Norse using the runic alphabet full of mystery and meaning. Then around the year 1000 they used the Latin alphabet, however it is the same Scandinavian language.
It is important to specify that according to the regions and countries, there were many variants and expressions specific to certain regions.
Some examples of French sentences written in Old Norse :
Je t'aime fort > Jᛖ ᛏ'ᚨᛁᛗᛖ ᚠᛟᚱᛏ
Hello to you comrade Viking! > Bᛟᚾᛃᛟᚢᚱ to ᛏᛟᛁ cᚨᛗᚨᚱᚨᛞᛖ vᛁᚲᛁᚾᚷ!
I hope to go to Valhalla > I ᛖᛊᛈèᚱᛖ ᚨᛚᛚᛖᚱ ᚨᚢ Vᚨᛚᚺᚨᛚᛚᚨ
To make your own sentences, you can use this translation tool.
Thank you for reading, it's a pleasure to write for Odin's Hall, the leading brand in accessories from Norse mythology.
Discover our Viking jewelry collections if you share our passion for Norse mythology.
Get on your ship, head east, towards the runes of protection to learn more about the Vikings!
